Champion Vintage Racing Engines

It’s the beginning of 1965, and the American performance engine landscape is changing. The elephant in the room, the 426 Chrysler Hemi, is gaining favor when mixed with nitro and a quarter-mile. The 289 Ford is selling like crazy in the new Mustang, and Chevy’s 425hp big-block is the top engine option in Corvettes, Chevelles, and big sedans.

2/12Holding the APBA 7.0L championship title in both ’63 and ’64 at 90 mph was this Keith Black Hemi out of the Royal Canadian drag boat.

Champion Spark Plug wanted to promote its involvement in high-performance engines and racing by toasting the builders and tuners, taking the best the Big Three offered and transforming them into monster motors capable of winning on long and short courses, at the dragstrip, and on the water. Ace HOT ROD photographer Eric Rickman was on hand to chronicle what Champion had to show. From our 2013 perspective, it’s great to see how the engines looked and were finished, the different fuel injection and carb combos the builders were using, and how they were configured.

6/12Mickey Thompson was developing a DOHC conversion for a 255ci Chevy to run at Indy. The engine was reported to make 500 hp at 8,500 rpm. These were the predecessors to the engine on the June ’67 cover of HOT ROD.